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Reference

From Diablo Wiki

An uber list of abbreviations, acronyms, and other terms specifically related to Diablo III. To streamline it, this list has been purged of general online chat acronyms and terms. Those can be found in the Diablo 2 version of this list elsewhere in this wiki.

Most of the key terms on this page are linked to articles that explain them in greater detail.

See the Diablo Glossary for a concise list of common Diablo 3 game terms/concepts, with links to full pages of info.

Contents

1337 -- Leet as in 'leet speak'. Also "l33t." Originally meant as elite. Now usually used ironically.

1 -- Abbreviation for "Elite". Also used as a general alert in-game text.

10 chars - All posts made on the Diablo.IncGamers.com forums need 10 characters to be able to be posted. This phrase is customarily added to "yes" or "no" type replies to reach the minimum length requirement.

Aggro - "Aggression." A common RPG term that describes which character or minion the monsters will attack first. Diablo 3 monsters do not aggro very much and generally just go after the nearest target, though some monsters may bypass followers and pets to attack the character directly.

Alkaizer Run - To quickly clear a number of levels in Act 3, for maximum treasure and experience gain. Named after a Barbarian who was the first Paragon level 100 character, who ran these levels in a certain order over and over again.

Bashiok - Blizzard's first Diablo 3 community manager. His relationship with the fans grew rocky during 2012 and he eventually moved back to the WoW community management.

Barablo - Portmanteau created by combining "Barbarian" and "Diablo." Generally used as a sort of complaint about the state of Diablo 3 during 2012 and into 2013 when the Barbarian's Spin2Win build was clearly the strongest in the game, yet was never nerfed while all debatably-overpowered builds for other classes were. (Also spelled Barblo and Barbablo.)

black weapon - A weapon with +minimum and maximum physical damage, and no elemental damage (hence no color of attack). Famous due to a bug that caused their damage to calculate incorrectly (higher than it should have) when paired with another item that added any type of elemental damage. The black weapons bug will not be fixed in existing weapons, but may be fixed for future weapons at some point.[1]

Blk - Block.

Blue - Used to refer to a post or comment from a Blizzard employee, based on their company color of choice.

bm - Bad manners. Indicating a PvP ruleset from Diablo 2 where such combat was ritualized and policed by players. May return with dueling in Diablo 3.

BO or B/O - Buyout. To purchase something instantly at the Buyout set price in the Auction House.

BoA - Bind on Account. Items such as the Hellfire ring and its components that can be shared between different characters on an account, but can not be traded or given away from that account. See also BoE and BoP.

chicken hack - Also "chicken bot." A mod that players can set to automatically disconnect them from the game server when a character's health drops below a danger level. Commonly abused in Diablo 2 by "bm" duelers and Hardcore players. Using any such mods is a violation of the EULA and ToS in Diablo 3.

chippies - Chipped gems. The lowest quality of gems, useful in D2 for various Horadric Cube recipes. They have virtually no value in Diablo 3.

Collision -- A term that refers to objects that can not occupy the same location in a game. There is no Player to Player collision so characters, followers, and pets can walk through each other. There is Player to Monster collision though, and characters can be trapped by a mass of monsters. See Escape Skills.

Combo - An early term for the Spirit-generator Monk skills, since they all hit three times in rapid succession.

Cookie cutter - Cookie Cutter is a term that refers to a character build that's repeatedly recreated (almost) exactly, like cookies stamped out in exactly the same shape. These are invariably powerful and simple builds, which is (of course) why they're being copied.

Cool down -- Also "cooldown" or "CD." A duration of time during which a skill (or other game feature) can not be used again. Finding various ways to shorten or remove cool downs is a common strategy in Diablo III.

CP - Checkpoint. The save points reached at the start of most dungeon levels and other key spots in Diablo 3. Players resurrect at their last checkpoint (or begin there next game) in case of non-Hardcore death.

D3C - Diablo III classic, the first version of the game after launch. It's not yet clear which term (or something else) will come into common usage to designate the pre-expansion version of Diablo III.

Desynch - refers to desynchronizing with the server. That way, you appear to be somewhere other than your actual location on the opponent's screen. It is usually caused by some form of very rapid character movement and may result in rubber banding.

DOT - Damage Over Time refers to damage of X over Y seconds, rather than all coming in one hit.

"Doubled it" - An now-infamous remark by Jay Wilson shortly before release, when describing how the developers had balanced the difficulty of Inferno to be harder than their tester could handle, "and then we doubled it!" This catch phrase has become largely a critical/sarcastic one for haters, though it's sometimes used in good humor as well.

Double crit - Refers to items, most commonly jewelry or gloves, that spawned with Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage. CC and CD is a very powerful and valuable combination, especially when joined by AS for the so-called "trifecta," though other mods can be as good or better.

Downtime - Refers to game time spent on tasks other than killing monsters and gaining exp/items. Players wishing to farm for profit strive to minimize their downtime.

Flaming - Making a personal attack or insulting remark in an online setting, such as a forum of comments or Battle.net chat, intended to incite anger.

fourfecta - A trifecta item with one other great offensive stat. AKA "quadfecta."

FM - Faster Movement, increased movement speed in Diablo 3. More often known as "MS" for "Movement Speed." Known as FRW (Faster Run/Walk) in Diablo 2, since that game had a walk and run speed, while Diablo 3 characters have just one gait.

Gear - Items or equipment, one of the most important aspects of ARPGs like Diablo 3.

gg - good game. Standard response to your opponent after a PvP duel. Can also mean "good gear."

Glass cannon - A character that is very powerful (cannon) but not very durable (glass). This term most often refers to mage or archer characters who deal out huge damage since they've optimized their gear/skills for that, rather than defense/hit points/etc.

Grail - players attempting to find at least one of every set item and unique item in the game. Usually associated with single player Diablo 2 because ATMA which allowed unlimited stash space.

Glorious! - A common exclamation by the Templar Follower, which players have taken to mocking, ironically or otherwise.

Godly - Something (usually an item) of exceptional quality. Also see "uber." Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 had "Godly" as an item prefix denoting a very high increase in armor, (as in the famous GPoW or Godly Plate of the Whale) but this affix did not return in Diablo 3.

goldilocks - A game feature or system that is "just right" in the balance curve.

grind - "Grinding" is an often-derogatory term for gameplay that requires much repetition of the same boring events. Diablo II's end game was chiefly comprised of grinding, such as Baal runs.

grush - glitched rush, where an attempt to rush a low level character has gone awry.

H -- Hell. Third and last difficulty of Diablo 1 and 2. Third of four difficulties in Diablo III. Also the realm where Diablo and the other demons reside (Burning Hells).

Hack -- (v) To cheat or use exploits in a game. (n) A program that enables such cheats.

Hater -- A term for people (often former fan boys who have turned bitter or disillusioned and now only complain or criticize. Diablo 3 earned more than its fair share of haters in the middle of 2012 with the state of the game and technical issues.

HGHB -- Health Globe Healing Bonus. An item affix that adds a set amount of life (1-12,500 depending on affix) every time a character uses a health globe or drinks a potion.

Idiot Arrow - Joking term for the arrow that appears on the map to point towards the bounty target when it is far away. Appears after one minute in Patch 2.3.

IK - Refers to the Immortal King item set, which is popular with Barbarians.

Ilvl - Item Level, an important property of items which is crucial in determining the modifiers, legendary type, and more. Displayed on the item tool tip in Diablo 3.

Imba - "Imbalanced," a term for items, skills, or other game features that are thought to be imbalanced. Also "OP."

Ind - Indestructible. Also "indy" or "indes."

Inv - Inventory.

Ironborn - A term for characters who are self-found, as opposed to using the Auction House to obtain their gear. Many players wish for official game mode support for this, but no Blizzard comment on it has been heard.

Ironman - A Life off the Land-related play style that does not allow characters to return to town or interact with NPCs in anyway, other than as required to complete quests.

ISO - "In Search Of," as in "ISO dueling game." Can also be used in trading talk.

ITD - Ignore Target's Defense.

Item linking -- A long-anticipated[2] system that provides stats and info about items in-game, enabling easy item display/discussion with other players. Enabled in Diablo III through Battle.net chat by holding shift + left click on an item with a chat dialogue already open.

Lag - Lag is also often used in reference to video games to describe the delay (or latency) between an action by a player and the reaction of the game.[3]

LaK - or "LpK" Life After/Per Kill. (Originally LAEK, or "Life After Each Kill" in Diablo 3.) An item modifier that awards a set amount of life for each monster killed. Useful to keep topped off while rolling through trash mobs, this affix is less desired than Life per Hit (LpH) since Life per Kill does not help during Elite fights.

LCS - The Lying Character Screen. The Diablo 2 Character window was notorious for displaying incorrect information. Diablo 3's is much more accurate and complete.

Leech - (noun) One who leeches. (Experience or items from other, more active players. Usually a derogatory term)

Leech - (verb) To gain health as a percentage of damage dealt. (Diablo 2 featured Life and Mana leech.)

Leg - Legendary, as in the classification of special items in Diablo 3. Set Items are included in the "Legendary" classification in Diablo 3. (Legendary items were called "Unique" in previous Diablo games.)

Legacy - Legendary items found prior to Diablo 3 v1.04. Legacy Legendary and Set items generally have much worse stats than the later versions. All Set Items were renamed in v1.04 to distinguish them from Legacy versions, and mixing legacy and new pieces from the same set will not generate partial set bonuses.

Legacy Nat's - Legacy version of Natalya's Solace item set. This is one exception to the "Legacy items are worse" rule, due to a bug that granted extra Discipline generation from the Legacy version of this set.

Live - Refers to the current version of a game that is live and on the public servers. As opposed to the internal test version, a beta test version, a game demo version, etc.

legit - legitimate item, not a dupe or a hack. Also used in a more general sense.

LFFS -- Life for Fury Spent, an item affix also found on some Barbarian skills. It provides X amount of life per each point of Fury spent, healing the Barbarian as he uses his Fury-spending skills.

LFSS -- Life for Spirit Spent, an item affix also found on some Monk skills. It provides X amount of life per each point of Spirit spent, healing the Monk as he uses his Spirit-spending skills.

LoD - Lord of Destruction. The Diablo II expansion. Also referred to as D2X.

LoH - Life on Hit, a valuable itemmodifier that grants X amount of hit points with every hit that lands. (Misses or hits on shielded targets do not generate LoH.

LotL - Live off the Land. A play style in which characters use only items they find themselves in that game, and do not bring in any items from outside the game. Purists do not even allow themselves to repair items or use anything bought from NPCs.

LpK - Life per Kill, also LaK/Life After Kill. A skill and item property (a secondary affix) that grants X amount of life (generally 2000-5000) for each enemy killed.

Main - Refers to a player's main character on their account. As opposed to "Alt" characters and "mules."

Mainstat - Each class has one stat (attribute) that contributes to their damage output, making this the most important to attempt to raise via equipment bonuses. (in terms of DPS) than the others. Str = Barbarian, Dex = Monk and Demon Hunter, Int = Witch Doctor and Wizard.

Merc - Mercenary. They are called Followers in Diablo 3 since they aren't paid.

Metcon - A humorous portmanteau combining "retcon" with "Chris Metzen," Blizzard's lead story artist. Metzen is known for rewriting the story in older games to fit new ideas, and there are several such modifications in Diablo 3. Most famously, the Dark Wanderer was changed from an anonymous warrior to King Leoric's oldest son Adian. (Who didn't previously exist.)

ML - Mana Leech. An essential property for most classes in Diablo 2, it is not found in Diablo 3 which has only Life Leech and uses Mana only for the Witch Doctor's resource. Many other methods exist to rapidly refuel resources, but none return a % of damage dealt, as Life Leech does.

MLD - Mid Level Duel. Characters used for dueling at a set maximum level to limit their skill and equipment use. See also vLLD and LLD.

MS - Movement Speed, the rate at which characters proceed. Also known as "FM" for "Faster Movement." The term was FRW (Faster Run/Walk) in Diablo 2, since that game had a walk and run speed, while Diablo 3 characters have just one gait and infinite stamina.

MSLE or MSLEB - Multi-Shot Lightning Enchanted. Extremely dangerous combination of boss mods in Diablo 2, prior to v1.10. No comparable creature exists in Diablo III as none of the Boss Modifiers pair up to such deadly effect.

Mules - characters used to store extra items. Necessary in Diablo II due to the huge variety of items and minimal stash space. Less prevalent in Diablo III due to the 10 character limit.

Muling - moving items from one character to another for storage or onto a character to be used. Either mules or ATMA (D2 single player only).

N00b - Newb. Nub. Newbie. Newcomer to the game. (Generally used as an insult).

Nat's - Items from the Natalya's Solace item set. As in, "I found Nat's ring but the RNG sucked."

NDA -- Non-Disclosure Agreement. What visitors to Blizzard must often sign as a pledge of secrecy. Gaming-related NDAs generally have an expiration date, forbidding visitors or media to report on events until some future date.

NDE - Near Death Experience, a common term for a character just barely surviving a dangerous situation. In Diablo 3 this is the name of a Monk passive skill (db), and the game also awards achievements for dropping to very low health and surviving.

Necro - The Necromancer. Also "nec" and "nerco." A Diablo II character, seen in Diablo 3 as an NPC but often fan-requested as a new character in D3X or D3Y.

Nerf - To make something in the game easier or less dangerous. Named from the foam-rubber toys.

Ninja loot - A verb that refers to the common Diablo 2 practice of darting in ahead of another player to grab the item drop. "Some remora ninja looted the Windy I got from Baal!" No longer a factor in Diablo 3 with individual drops for each character.

NG - New Game/Next Game.

NM - Nightmare. The second level of difficulty in Diablo 1, 2, and 3.

Norm - Normal. Usually refers to the first level of difficulty in the Diablo games.

No-Twink (Untwinked) - No-twink groups and players use and equip only what they find specifically with that character, rather than bringing in items, usually much higher level items, found by others. See also Ironborn.

OP - Original Poster. Refers to the first person to start a forum thread, news post, etc.

OS - open socket. An item with a socket that has no gem placed in it. A crucial distinction in Diablo 2 where unsocketing was long impossible, though largely irrelevant in Diablo 3 where unsocketing is cheap (aside from the Marquise gem.)

OWE - One With Everything, a powerful Monk passive skill that raises Res All to match the highest individual attribute. Considered mandatory by most Monks and constantly threatened with redesign by the developers (through v.107).

Paragon - The Paragon level system was added to Diablo III in Patch 1.04. It added 100 Paragon levels that began after a character reached level 60. Each Paragon level provides +3% Magic Find and Gold Find as a passive bonus, plus the normal attributes granted with a level up.

Parked/parking - Leading a dangerous or inconvenient monster away, then running away quickly enough to ditch it and leave it lost there, out of AI range from any players.

perm - A purported way of making a duped item not *poof*. (Vanish as a dupe.) These were common in Diablo II, and were almost always nonfunctional scams.

perma - A term used to mean "permanent" as in an effect, often some type of crowd control that can be maintained indefinitely. Perma-stun, perma-frozen, perma-vault, etc.

pets - A general term for player-summoned creatures that act as physical entities, not just spell effects. Examples include the Witch Doctor's Mongrels and Gargantuan, the Demon Hunter's Boar Companion, and the Monk's Familiars. Followers are sometimes also grouped into this classification. See also "minion" and "tank".

PK - Player killing. Usually associated with ambushing players to kill them. A form of PvP not to be confused with dueling. PKing is not possible in Diablo III, since there is no nonconsensual PvP.

r - Ready. This is the standard signal among players in a group before triggering a monster urn/shrine or entering a treacherous area.

Rage quit - Often written /ragequit. Signifies a player who has grown furious with some aspect of a game (or technical problem) and announces that he's giving up playing it. (Unsympathetic onlookers often mock these tantrums as temporary.)

Raid - A boss battle or other mission in an MMORPG that requires the coordination of multiple players to defeat. There are no raid events in the Diablo games, unlike most other ARPGs such as WoW.

Reagent -- An ingredient of some type required to perform an action or craft an item. For instance, gems and tomes and gold are reagents required for the gem upgrading recipes. Generally called materials in Diablo 3.

Regen - Regeneration, usually of health, though it may refer to resources as well.

remora - Remoras are weak characters who attach themselves to more powerful characters, following them around and living on their scraps. A common site in Diablo 2 cow runs, but not as common in Diablo 3, and less annoying thanks to the removal of ninja looting in Diablo 3.

RMAH - Real Money Auction House. Branch of the Auction House that uses real world money, rather than in-game gold.

RMT - Real Money Trading. Selling game items for real world cash money. Prohibited by Blizzard in Diablo II and generally frowned on by gamers. Allowed and officially endorsed via the Real Money Auction House in Diablo III.

RNG - Random Number Generator. Algorithms used in computing when an outcome needs to be as random as possible. Often beseeched like a pagan god by players frustrated by their inability to "beat" the random nature of a game, "These drops suck. My RNG sucks today".

RtM - Read the Manual. What no one ever actually does.

roll - The random array of affixes on an item. The occasional item with good mods is said to have "a good roll." See RNG and drop.

Rubber band - Often cited as "Rubberbanding." The result of a desynch between the server and the client, where a character or monster appears to have moved, only to suddenly bounce back to the previous location when the server corrects the location. A source of great player frustration, most often seen in Diablo 3 with fast movement skills such as Furious Charge or Tempest Rush.

run - To repeatedly kill the monster or monsters in a certain area in order to gain items or experience. Also "farm."

Rush - Also turbo or taxi. To use a high level character to assist a lower level character(s) in moving quickly through the game.

Screenshot - An image taken from the game, released in the hundred pre-game as promotion, and taken in-game by the PrtScn key. Screenshots are stored, by default in Windows, on your C: drive in the "Documents\Diablo III\Screenshots" folder.

Self-found - An item a character or player found themselves and thus knows is legit. Can refer to a character, as in "untwinked."

Single Pass - going through the game without re-running an area. Diablo III is designed (like WoW) to let characters achieve the highest possible level (60) from (roughly) a single pass, rather than requiring endless grinding to reach the higher levels, as D2 did. This changed considerably with the introduction of the Paragon system.

Sheablo - A portmanteau combining "she" and "diablo" to refer to the pre-game suspicion that Diablo would occupy a female body in Diablo 3, presumably Leah. (Proven correct upon release.) Extensive fan speculation and developer non-denials about this can be seen in Diablo 3 news from 2009-2012: [4][5][6][7]

slivering - taking a monster down to the bare minimum (a sliver on the health bar) of life without killing it. Usually done to switch into Magic Find gear for the kill, or to let a weaker character or Follower get the last hit.

Smart drops -- Added in Loot 2.0 and causing a dropped item to be very likely to roll of the correct type for the character who found it, with the appropriate mainstat.

Snapshot -- A term for item or bonus effects that are locked in at one point, instead of changing constantly.

Softcore -- An unofficial term for "normal" mode characters, i.e. not hardcore characters.

Spam -- In gaming, a verb that refers to an action that is repeated over and over again. "That Demon Hunter was totally spamming Multishot."

Spammable -- Refers to a skill or ability that can be used repeatedly in rapid succession, generally due to a low resource cost and a lack of cooldown limits. (Or a skill that can be spammed once equipment/skills are fine-tuned to allow it.)

SoJ - The Stone of Jordan, a Unique Ring introduced in Diablo 2 and returned in Diablo 3, with very different stats.

spiky - Also "bursty." Refers to damage output (usually taken by a player) that is a huge burst all at once, rather than more steady damage over time. The combat system in Reaper of Souls was redesigned to eliminate most spiky damage.

S/S - Sword/Shield, equipping both at once. Also "Sword and Board." The Crusader was designed to function this way, with various shield skills.

SW - (Also S&W.) Sword and Board, refers to equipping a one-handed weapon with a shield. Originally "Sword/Shield."

Synch - Refers to synchronizing with the server, thus going back to normal. Can be done intentionally by players through instant movements (teleportation, waypoints, portals) to defeat a desynched state, or automatically by the server via rubber banding.

Synergy - Skills that directly boost or are boosted by points in other skills. Very common in D2, especially after v1.11. Less common in Diablo 3, and mostly seen via passive skills.

Tinfoil Hat - A classic joking reference to conspiracy theories and paranoia, which runs rampant amongst online gaming fans. Blizzard has made light of it in the past via April Fool's jokes.

ToC - Trail of Cinders, a demon hunter rune effect in the Vault skill. ToC was briefly OP due to a bug in patch 1.0.3 that raised the damage to 1500% weapon damage (rather than the intended 300% weapon damage.)

ToS - Terms of Service. The fine print no one reads before installing or updating software. Violating it can get your Diablo 3 account suspended or banned. See also EULA.

Tricross - Refers to Blackthorn's Duncraig Cross, the amulet (db) from Blackthorne's item set when it rolls with a [trifecta]]. The amulet has Attack Speed inherently, so to achieve the trifecta it needs to roll Critical hit Damage and Critical hit Chance in the two random modifiers; a very lucky and uncommon roll, and one that's both powerful and very valuable.

Trolling - Making provocative, controversial or offensive remarks, intended to create a confrontational response. Usually found in forums or news comments.

Twink/Twinked/Twinking - To give high quality items to new characters, usually other characters on your own account. "Twinking" is the process of doing this. "Twinked" refers to a character who has been so equipped. Twinking is most often done to benefit brand new characters in the leveling up process, but the term can also refer to passing down end game gear from your main to an alt.

Vlld - Also vLLD. Very low level dueling, usually level 9 in Diablo II. This greatly limits the skills and equipment that can be used, and simplifies the dueling experience somewhat. See also LLD and MLD.

WKL - Refers to the Legendary Fist weapon Won Khim Lau (db), a Monk-only weapon which can't roll with the highest DPS, but has a +[15-25%] Lightning damage property that makes it much more viable for Monks using lightning-intensive skills, such as the very popular Fists of Lightning (db) skill.

Zerk - Refers to Berserk, a D2 Barbarian skill. There is no Berserk skill in Diablo III, though earlier in D3's development there was a Barbarian Berserker Skill Tree. There is a Cultist Berserker monster.